Jason Segel

If you're an actor in Hollywood and you happen to find yourself on the Judd Apatow express, its best to just stay on board, and ride that train until it comes to a complete stop. After starring in the under-appreciated and short-lived Apatow comedies Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared, Segel was on board, and instead of remaining a passenger, he decided to step into the driver's seat. After charming audiences as the slacker ladies man in the Apatow-directed Knocked Up, Segel bared his soul (and penis) as the heartbroken oaf in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, a film he also wrote. With a lead role in the bromantic comedy smash I Love You, Man and a spot on the refreshing CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, his career is running full steam ahead.

Appeal

After showing the world his flaccid penis in the now-infamous break-up scene in Forgetting Sarah Marshall -- a scene that according to the actor was based on actual events -- Jason Segel underhandedly eliminated the element of surprise from any and all future romantic trysts. The 6'4” man-child, with his lanky extremities and burgeoning beer belly, has informed women the world over that he doesn't pack much punch, and he's proud of it. That kind of blunt honesty can surely charm even the most hardened cynics.

Success

After starring in two canceled sitcoms -- Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared -- many thought they would never hear from Jason Segel again. Little did they know that the man behind those failed but beloved series (director Judd Apatow) would go on to conquer Hollywood in a way not seen since the days of Alexander the Great, and he’d bring his troupe of comedic scoundrels along as his henchmen. Segel co-starred alongside Seth Rogen in Apatow’s Knocked Up and he also has a role in CBS's surprise smash How I Met Your Mother. Since being reintroduced to audiences as the slurry Lothario with the wistful eyes and lazy smile, Segel assumed the role of leading man in the highly personal Forgetting Sarah Marshall, a break-up movie he wrote based widely on past relationships. In the film, Segel was faced with the unenviable task of choosing between Kristen Bell and Mila Kunis, a predicament that made him the envy of men everywhere.

After the success of Marshall proved that Segel could carry a film as well as write one, he was assigned the task of charming Paul Rudd in the unorthodox comedy I Love You, Man. With another box office smash under his belt, and a slew of films including Gulliver's Travels and Get Him to the Greek -- which Segel wrote -- on the way, his status as a bona fide movie star is firmly cemented.

Jason Segel Biography

Born in Los Angeles and raised in Pacific Palisades, like every other boy around him, Jason Segel wanted to be an actor. Unfortunately for him, he hit puberty at an early age and ended up being the only 6'4” 12-year-old in all of southern California (or we assume). While embracing his role as "the tall kid" by leading his high school basketball team to a state championship, Segel pursued his love of acting by staging a high school play on a whim. In a case of stars aligning, Segel was discovered by a Paramount casting agent and broke into the Apatow gang at the ripe age of 19, as the browbeaten drummer Nick Andopolis on Freaks and Geeks. He soon began dating co-star Linda Cardellini and, as her career blossomed, his hit a standstill, as producers found him a little too goofy to be considered a leading man. Segel was turned down for leads in Undeclared, Knocked U, and even sold his first screenplay at the age of 21 (it remains unproduced) on the basis that he would not star in the film. Ever the visionary, Apatow decided to nurture Segel's natural talent, a decision that has since paid off in spades.

jason segel bares all in forgetting sarah marshall

If you're a writer, surely you've heard that the key to success is "writing what you know." When penning the script for Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Segel took this to heart, using 10 years of relationship horror stories to craft the backbone for the slightly askew romantic tale on how to get over an ex. Even the naked break-up scene that sets the film in motion, in which Segel gives us the full-frontal treatment, was deeply rooted in reality. The now infamous scene sent Segel's mother sobbing from the theater during a preview but also became a selling point that transcended mere internet chatter. Talk of Segel and his member was everywhere, and although the whiskey-fueled day was difficult for him to shoot, it clearly paid off.

jason segel the puppeteer

In Forgetting Sarah Marshall, we got reacquainted with Jason Segel the actor, got introduced to Jason Segel the writer and were pleasantly surprised by Jason Segel the... puppeteer? None of us can forget the Dracula Muppet musical that closed the film, which he actually wrote himself. The off-beat actor has had a longstanding love affair with puppets because, according to him, when you play with puppets "you don't need actual friends." His infatuation with puppets runs so deep that Segel has been enlisted by Disney to write and direct the next Muppets film. As the studio was flinging scripts at the newly minted star, Segel knew exactly what he wanted to do. “I stopped them and was like, 'These all sound great, thank you, I'm very flattered. The thing I would really like to do is bring back the Muppet franchise.''' The studio bought his pitch immediately, all but guaranteeing that Segel will spend some considerable time in the future with his hands up some butts.

jason segel stars in I love you, man

Reteaming with his Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Knocked Up co-star Paul Rudd, Segal helped redefined the romantic comedy in this tale of an awkward groom-in-waiting (Rudd) in search of a best man for his wedding. A far cry from his role in Marshall, Segel played the relaxed and supremely confident Sydney Fife who, over the course of the film, teaches Rudd in more ways than one how to, like, totally "bro out." The film mixed a sweet sentimentality with the edgy humor that Segel is known for and turned what potentially could have been a genre-defying disaster into one of the biggest hits of the year.